


almost a shame

by yallbitter



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: I hate that I wrote this, i don't even want to tag it just take this and go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:22:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27683489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yallbitter/pseuds/yallbitter
Summary: simpsforsims, you absolute bastard. Enjoy.
Relationships: Elias Bouchard/Michael Shelley, Jonah Magnus/Michael Shelley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	almost a shame

He couldn’t _do_ this. It wasn’t fair. Just last week they’d been together in his apartment smoking and laughing and kissing, and now Elias wasn’t even looking at him. Sure, he’d been promoted, but he could at least have the decency to break things off properly instead of vanishing into that fancy office without a word. Gertrude had been even more distant than usual, looking at him like she knew something he didn’t.

Michael sighed. She always knew something he didn’t. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was exactly what she knew, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

Couldn’t bring himself to handle the answer.

But Gertrude and her mysterious ways weren’t at the forefront of Michael’s mind, far from it. No, that place was currently reserved for getting Elias to talk to him. Or look at him. Or acknowledge that Michael Shelley was a person that existed somewhere on the planet. Anything other than complete ignorance and avoidance.

Which is why he was marching into the corridor that led to Elias’ new office, wearing his very best outfit and fuming. If Elias wasn’t going to come to Michael, Michael was gonna go to Elias.

His dramatic, door slamming entrance was somewhat ruined by a tall bearded man dressed as a ship’s captain sitting opposite the ancient mahogany desk and talking to Elias. Michael swore he heard something about ‘funds running low’ and ‘marriage’, but that was….insane.

He cleared his throat and steeled himself for the confrontation. He’d never been much good at it, but sometimes the situation called for it.

“I need to talk to Elias.” The two men stared at him. Neither moved, and he wiggled uncomfortably under their gaze. “Alone?” He added lamely.

Elias sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose, just above his new half moon glasses. Since when did he need glasses?

“If you don’t mind, Peter? I’ll deal with him.”

Deal with him? _Deal with him?_ As though Michael was just….just a disgruntled employee. His jaw clenched and he fought back tears as the bearded man strode past him, completely silent. His feet didn’t make a sound on the hardwood floors, and he smelt so strongly of the ocean that Michael felt like he was on a boat, drifting away, all alone and lonely….And then he was gone, and the sensation was over as fast as it had started, leaving Michael standing across from Elias.

Michael had always been the taller of the two, but even as he towered above Elias’ seated form, he felt about two feet tall. The way he was looking at him, his gaze sharp and cold, uncaring in way that it had never been before, like his eyes saw beyond him and this room. Now that he thought about it, he could have sworn Elias had brown eyes, not this strange dark gold-

“You wanted to speak with me. Speak.” His voice was…wrong, somehow. It still sounded like Elias, that posh accent that he’d turn up to 11 whenever he talked to statement givers, but it was off by just a margin. Barely noticeable, if you weren’t familiar with the intricacies of his voice the way Michael was. And the Elias he knew would never talk to anyone like that.

Michael snapped.

“I am _sick_ and _tired_ of you acting like this! Sure, you got promoted and I’m happy for you, of course I’m happy for you, Eli, but you can’t just vanish into this office and pretend that we never- that you never- it’s not- it isn’t fair, Elias! You aren’t even acting like yourself anymore, and- mhnph!”

Elias had come around the desk as he ranted, and pulled his face down into a kiss, hard and unyielding. Michael almost let himself relax, to enjoy it, but way his thin new moustache scraped his lip, and the harsh grip Elias had on his hair were so unfamiliar that he pulled himself away, pushing against the shorter man’s shoulders. The suit felt expensive under Michael’s figures, and he got an intense urge to tear it apart.

“What the hell are you doing?” He demanded, tears flowing freely by now as he looked down at the man he loved only to see him looking bored, disinterested and irritated, those strange gold eyes (his eyes weren’t gold, why were they gold now what was happening what was going on-) unblinking and cold.

“If you want to do it like this, then fine. I had hoped to give you one last nice memory before we did this, but if you insist on an _explanation_ …” He sat once more and gestured at the seat in front of him. “Sit.”

He sat, too overwhelmed and confused to argue.

“Let’s start with the obvious; I’m breaking up with you. It’s not you, it’s me. We’ve grown apart. I’ve become,” He smirked, laughing at some joke only he understood. God, not even his laugh was right anymore. “a different person, blah blah blah and all of that tedious business. The point is, we _are_ over. Is that agreeable to you?”

Agreeable? Was it agreeable to him that the man he loved was leaving him for no discernible reason? Funnily enough, it wasn’t, but before Michael had the chance to voice his complaints, Elias had continued.

“Good. Secondly, you are not to come up here unless you have been explicitly summoned or if there is absolutely no other option. I am the head of this institute and I demand respect from _all_ my employees, including you. Especially you.”

“Eli, come on-“ He started, desperation and hopelessness creeping into his voice despite his best efforts. Elias cut him off curtly.

“You will address me as Mr Bouchard or you will not address me at all, Michael. I am your superior and it would serve you will to remember that.”

Something in Michael broke then. His resolve, maybe his courage, or even the last dregs of hope he’d had of getting through to Elias. It didn’t matter, really.

“You are dismissed.” So unlike Eli. It couldn’t be him. There was no way. But then maybe his Elias was already lost, leaving him with this.

He stood up and walked to the door stiffly, hands shaking as he turned the handle and looked back one last time at whoever it was wearing the face of his boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. Whatever. He blinked away the tears burning in his eyes as he farewelled him. The last he saw of Elias in person was him smiling smugly, his face and body a mirror image of the disturbingly large portrait of Jonah Magnus behind him.

* * *

When arrived back in the archives, Gertrude barely glanced at him before she thrust a file into his hands.

“Pull yourself together and start reading. We’re taking a little business trip, and I need your help.”

Michael wiped his eyes with his scarf and nodded dumbly.

“What- what do I need to pack?” His voice shook just a little, but he couldn’t lose it now. He had to stay strong, for Gertrude. If she needed his help, Michael was happy to provide it.

“You won’t need too much. We’re….we’re travelling light.” And if Michael didn’t know any better, he’d say she looked at him like she was already mourning.

* * *

It was almost a shame, mused Jonah in his office, to hurt him like that.

Michael was a good man, but good men didn’t get very far in this world. He didn’t know for sure what Gertrude, that old bitch, was planning, but he already knew that Michael was done. Her assistants had a truly awful track record.

Jonah Magnus took a sip of something expensive and bad for your liver, and relished the burn as it made it’s way down the throat of the man who was once Elias Bouchard.

Yes, he thought, pulling up Elias' memories of their time together, It was very nearly a shame.


End file.
